Petroleum activities reporting

If you drill or bore a well on a petroleum interest area in the Northern Territory (NT), you must submit well completion reports.

Well completion reports provide the minister with a range of information about:

• the drilling and construction of a well
• geological findings and conclusions made
• any conclusions or recommendations reached about hydrocarbon potential as a result of the activity.

After the drilling rig is released, you must submit:

• an initial well completion report within 3 months and
• a final well completion report within 12 months.

Failure to submit a well completion report within the required period is an offence.

You must pay a late lodgement fee for each week or part of a week until you submit the well completion report.

For information on daily drilling reports and other well activity reports, read petroleum activity notifications and reports.

Content and approved format

You must include all relevant content set out in the Petroleum Regulations 2020 and submit reports and data in formats that comply with the following guidelines.

Guidelines for Northern Territory petroleum reporting and data submission PDF (664.2 KB)
Guidelines for Northern Territory petroleum reporting and data submission DOCX (871.4 KB)

You must submit all geoscientific reports and data in digital form and the approved format.

Read more about content and format of geoscientific reports and data.

Initial well completion report

The report must contain the following:

• a summary of well information
• all drilling information
• all drill logs
• description and results of all tests
• details of hydrocarbon show and a preliminary assessment of reservoir and prospective horizons
• lists of samples collected
• core photos.

Final well completion report

The report must contain the following:

• information on the geological formations penetrated
• reservoir properties
• all the interpretations of the well data
• results of all tests and core sample analyses
• interpreted logs, including composite logs.

How to submit

Use the following checklist when submitting the well completion reports.

Checklist and transmittal for reports and data relating to wells PDF (41.8 KB)
Checklist and transmittal for reports and data relating to wells DOCX (63.2 KB)

Find out more about how to submit reports.